Pakistani police say electrical shorts caused deadly blasts

By RIAZ KHAN
Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say the twin blasts that struck a counterterrorism facility in the country’s northwest and killed 16 people the day before were caused by electrical shorts and not a terror attack, as initially suggested. The short circuits occurred on Monday at a munition warehouse in the facility in Swat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Along with those killed, more than 50 people, mostly police officers, were wounded when the shorts ignited explosions, seconds apart. Initially, police said it could be an act of terrorism. A police statement on Tuesday says an investigation later concluded that short circuits caused the explosions.